Smoking with a Weber Kettle

[grumio]

Hello all -

I'm new to the forum, & happy to have found it.

I'm told my method is called a "snake" or something. I call it "fuse." I picked up bits & pieces from various places, but never saw it fully described. I hope this will be of use to those, like me, who for whatever reasons, don't have a dedicated smoker but do have a Weber kettle & want to make proper barbecue. Here's what I do:

Make a ring of briquets around the edge of the charcoal grate, then another ring inside that one, then a third ring on top of the bottom two so you have a roughly 3-4 thick briquet ring of the desired length (2/3 the way around should give you at least 8 hours).


the charcoal ring

Put your hardwood chunks on top of the ring of briquets.


with hardwood chunks

Put a dozen or so lit briquets at one end of the ring & put a chunk of hardwood on top of that. Put a big disposable aluminum drip pan in the center under the meat, if needed. Put the cover on with the top vent opposite the burning coals, & you're off.


light the fuse

You need some sort of thermometer. I use a cheap dial-face instant-read thermometer:


you don't actually need the lemon


Best thing is to drill a little hole in the side of the lid (in line with the vent) & put the thermometer through that, with a little round of cork on either side to hold it in place. That will give you the temperature at grill level. You can also just drop it through the vent (make sure it isn't touching the meat).


this also looks very cool & will make people think you know what you're doing

Over the first half-hour or so, adjust the vents to get to your target temperature, and then check it every once in a while. My vents are usually, roughly, 3/4 closed on the bottom, half closed on top. Your mileage may vary.

When I started doing this, I hovered & fussed quite a bit, but eventually it sank in that it does actually work & will hum along at ~250 very nicely without me standing next to it. Now when I 'cue I take a look at it every hour or so, but even that's not really necessary, pace some significant change in the weather, like wind.

Follow good, standard barbecue practice - which consists largely of leaving the damn thing alone. Do not open the lid unless necessary (to turn, mop, check internal temp), and when you do, no lollygagging. Get it done & get that lid back on. Oh - if you're doing a bunch of ribs, like this -


mmm - RIBS...

leave a space for the burning coals (left side in the picture). If your cooking grill has a hinged piece, leave that part free, so you can add more hardwood if needed. No hot coals directly under the meat! Open the lid & rotate the grill as the fire moves around the briquet ring.

Oddly, one of the trickiest bits is lighting so few coals in a chimney starter. Here's my truly great tip: cut a cardboard (obviously) egg carton into thirds, put a briquet in each dimple, stack them up in the chimney & light. Arrange the coals into a pile in the chimney after the cardboard has burned away. Works much better than newspaper.

Want to see those ribs again?


barbieporn

I knew you did. Twenty pounds of pork butt?


piggy goodness

Pork belly. Lamb ribs. Barbecue.

I would love any sort of feedback. Cheers.

PS: I'm a California boy, but both my parents are from Texas; I come by my barbecue genes honestly.

[spunkymunky]

Looks very, very good. Keep it up. THANKS
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[Uncle John]

Welcome to the ring. Them is sum purty ribs. Good color, nice pullback on the bones, and what a shine. I'll take an order of those bad boys.
Nice job and good tips for kettlers.
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[kckirwan]

YEAH!!!!!! My mouth is watering !!!
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[eccho108]

Looks like you have it all figured out already. Welcome to the ring, look forward to seeing and hearing more of your cooks. Nice work.
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[Canadian Bacon]

Grumio,welcome to the ring,thats a great pictorial on how to set up a kettle for smoking,your ribs look fantastic.Great pics thanks for sharing.I was just trying to explain to a friend the other day on how to set up her kettle for smoking,I will send her this post.
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[The PPP]

looks good to me

[Jarhead]

Great post grumio. And that food looks out of this world. Bet it tasted just as good.
Welcome aboard, lots of friendly and helpful people here, so don't be bashful.
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[day_trippr]

Excellent tutorial, grumio! Well done - and thanks for the contribution!

Cheers!
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[SmokeHound]

[BluzQue]

Welcome grumio
Beautiful Cooks!
Excellent Tutorial!


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[messerist]

Excellent post and good looking "Q" Welcome aboard!
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[OwenStubbs]

Nice tutorial! Those ribs look fantastic!

Is the smoke flavor inhibited by cooking those butts in a pan?

Also - nice tip on the cardboard egg carton for lighting briquettes!!

[71ragtop]

Man it just so happens I have a brand new Weber kettle in the shed. I've had this thing for over 20 years and only cooked a hand full of times on it. I just might try my hand at that smoking process now that I have good direction. Thanks Grumio and great lookin food as well.
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[k.a.m.]

Welcome to the ring grumio, looking forward to seeing some more pics of your cooks. I don't care what you call the method, you definitely have the kettle cooking the way you want. The ribs and Butts look awesome. Nicely done my man.
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[grumio]

Thanks for all the kind words, everybody! I appreciate it.

OwenStubbs: They get plenty of smoke, regardless of the pan.

I recently got a 45 lb bag of orange wood (first time I've used anything but hickory), so I plan on doing a lot more barbecuing. My latest obsession is barbecued pork belly. I had it at an excellent barbecue joint called Fette Sau in Brooklyn, of all places, and immediately thought oh yes, that's going to happen. I've made some twice now & will be doing so again. I'll post pics & details.

Cheers, smokers!

[thooks]

Only thing I'd look at doing differently is not putting the smoke wood towards the end of the "fuse"...You've got the smoke done by then. Just straight charcoal from the 2/3 mark on.

JMO

[grumio]

Right you are. There is a bit too much wood in the picture. I don't remember if that shot was from a pork butt cook or a rib cook - I think the former. Still, more hardwood than necessary.

[BluDawg]

I use this method and I get 12 hrs. cook time at 250 deg I rin the exhaust w/o and control the intake air. I like your thermo mod great idea.

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[caliel]

I am trying a a few different sauces this weekend. I had trimmings from spare-ribs in the freezer that I thought would be good to use as a vehicle for tasting. I recalled this post and thought that it might be a good way to smoke up the trimmings without lighting the chargriller and would be economical on charcoal as well .....

WOW THIS WORKS GREAT!

I lit it and took a 2 hour nap and the trimmings are at 165 and there is plenty of coal left to finish the job up. I am stunned with what a great technique this is.